The "Boundary" Years

I recently read an article the the "2"s are the boundary years according to the Dutch. My youngest, Felicity, is 2 and my niece Catriana turns 2 today. Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems.

Anyway, instead of the "terrible twos" the Dutch refer to these years as the "boundary years".  I keep repeating this to myself as I shampoo the carpets after my dearest takes a marker to the floor, or unravels a whole roll of toilet paper. She is learning her boundaries. She is learning right from wrong and exploring her environment. I don't blame her. The world is fun. It's stimulating. But it's my job to lay down the law and teach her that painting paper is good. Painting the table is not good. 

So instead of telling others she is in get terrible twos and her hearing this thinking she's "terrible", I tell them she's just in her boundary years and I'm here as her ref to help her fix the oops and learn her boundaries.